"Chill, mates. We're soldiers from the city's prison. We heard your radio broadcast and came with some other survivors." Kayson raised his hand and got out of the car.
"State your name and title." The Captain raised his hand, and his subordinates lowered their rifles.
"I am Sergeant Kayson, and they are my subordinates. There were three more in the back car." Kayson faked his identity and pointed to the car in the back row.
"All right. You did a great job bringing in the survivors and gathering supplies, Sergeant Kayson. I'm Captain Tom. You can keep your weapon and car, but we'll take your food supplies." Tom nodded slightly and gestured to his men to open the blockade for the cars to enter.
"Heh... Why is that? We snatched our food supplies from the monster's mouth with our own efforts. Someone from our team died on the way here." Kayson frowned, though he had expected this.
"That's what we also do while protecting thousands of survivors. The military will manage all food supplies, and you are part of us now. All survivors get regular food rations from us." Tom replied. He then ordered his subordinates to check the stuff inside the cars. He was quite satisfied with what these new survivors had brought.
Zayn looked around and found many civilians assigned as soldiers. With over a hundred armed forces and combat vehicles at their disposal, those survivors might be able to arrive in New York safely.
"Good, please park the cars and come in for dinner. We're leaving for New York tomorrow morning at sunrise." The Captain gave a gesture for everyone to enter.
After that, Zayn and everyone entered the military base.
About two thousand survivors had come into sight by the time they entered the building. The survivors still looked fine, just scared and a little desperate.
"I think you'll be fine here. Then, please take care of yourselves, my friends." Zayn patted his friend's shoulder.
"Yeah, hopefully, we will have a chance to meet again in the future."
"Please take care of yourself."
"Please be safe and careful."
"The God is with us."
"Just don't forget your regular prayer. May God bless us." Zayn raised his hand in farewell.
"Take care of yourselves. They're not very friendly, if you know what I mean." Alex shrugged.
"Stay low if you are afraid and want to be protected by them. Keep strong and fight if you want to protect others. Even with these armed forces, don't take it as a guarantee of safety. Be careful and always be alert. The danger can come from anywhere. " Frankie nodded slightly to the four people who decided to stay there.
Zayn went over to Kayson and handed him a book. "This is for you. I know you are quite a friendly person. You may need this one day."
"What's this?" Kayson didn't accept the book immediately, but he smirked and accepted it when he saw the book's title. "Guidelines as a believer, huh. I may never read it, but I will accept your farewell gift. So, do you want to return to that place to bring your followers here?"
"We need to ask them first." Zayn nodded slightly.
"I see..." Kayson sighed and looked at the other survivors. "Zayn, whatever you want to do, I hope you can achieve your goal. There are limits to what humans can do, so make sure you know when to retreat and advance."
"Yo, I didn't know the scary Kayson could utter such wise words. I thought you just had muscle brain in your head." Alex smiled widely.
"Tsk, whatever." Kayson clicked his tongue and walked away.
"May God protect us all." Frankie sighed. He didn't feel comfortable and safe being here for some reason.
Zayn then left the building with Alex and Frankie without waiting for anything else.
"Where are you going? Go back." A soldier near the parking lot asked with some suspicion.
"We just need to go out." Zayn glanced at the dark city.
"Out at night? That's very dangerous, mate. The zombies are more active at night." The soldier warned with a solemn expression.
"Yeah, but we can't just leave our comrades behind." Zayn shook his head.
"That's up to you." The soldier just shrugged his shoulders and didn't care anymore.
Frankie then got into the driver's seat, Alex in the co-pilot, and Zayn in the passenger seat. They went towards the blockaded exit.
"Halt, where do you think you're going at night like this?" One of the soldiers on guard intercepted the approaching car.
"That's right, comrades. We must go quickly to pick up our other comrades while night has not yet fully fallen. Please open the blockade for us." Frankie opened the side window.
"Are you crazy? Do you want to die and become food for those zombies?" Another soldier frowned in disbelief.
"Do you think we're kidding? Hurry up. We're running out of time." Alex raised his hand high out the car window.
"..." The team leader was silent for a moment, considering something. He then signaled his subordinates to open the blockade.
After the car left, a soldier asked in surprise. "Is it okay to let them leave? They are valuable auxiliary battle power, right? They will die."
"That's their wish. They're already dead if they don't come back by sunrise. Plus, they can attract the zombies roaming around to leave. Let them do whatever they want. Although, I hope they can return with their comrades safely." The sergeant answered and then turned around.
The journey back to the underground garage was tough because what the soldiers warned earlier proved true. Zombies were more active at night.
"Take this!" Alex smashed the last zombie right in the head. Kill the last zombie that is around the underground garage.
"Let's go." Zayn opened the car door for Alex.
"Alright!" Alex came in right away. Frankie immediately stepped on the gas, and their hummer lunged at the approaching zombies.
"Hopefully, Kayson won't be overwhelmed if he's going to retrieve his car tomorrow. That zombie corpse will obviously attract a lot of other mobs." Zayn looked back. Kayson's underground garage is still tightly closed, but the problem is with the dead zombies around the exit.
"Haha, who knows. So, should we go to the medicine store first or return straight to prison?" Frankie laughed lightly.
"We'd better get back. Nineteen of our friends are still there, and Steve needs to be buried too." Zayn shook his head.
"Oh dear God!" Frankie suddenly stepped on the brake pedal. He immediately turned the steering wheel.
"What's with the sudden brake, Frankie?" Alex held his head.
"Look back, and you'll see why. We can't use the same path we came on. The hordes are too much to handle." Frankie immediately stepped on the gas. They would take another route.
Alex and Zayn looked back. Sure enough, hordes of zombies loomed out of the darkness, approaching like undead monsters from a horror movie.
"Phew... Fortunately, they walk very slowly despite their incredible physical strength. We take a detour, but do you know the way?" Alex wiped his sweat.
"No, but we just need to go northwest. Hold on, we'll go fast." Frankie accelerated the car to hit all the zombies on the road.
*Bam* *Bam* *Bang!*
Their military-grade hummer hit all obstacles and was strong enough to withstand the collision. They buried Steve in the cemetery as soon as they reached the outskirts.
Their return trip to the prison took almost an hour because of the detour. Even so, they were able to return safely.
"Sir James, Zayn is here. We're back. Please open the steel door." Zayn opened communication via walkie-talkie.
"Gatekeeper team here. Have you cleared the entrance?" An answer came shortly after.
"We've sealed the fences. No zombies roaming around. It's safe to open the gates now." Zayn confirmed while looking around. It was dark, but he was sure there were no zombies nearby.
"Affirmative." A response came, and the gate was opened from within.
Zayn and his close friends went in. Frankie parked their car in the empty lobby, some distance from Warden's cars.
After that, James called Zayn's group to talk. However, Zayn asked for a little delay because they needed to quickly carry out their dusk and evening prayer first.
Once their business was done, they went to meet James in the control and surveillance room.
Several people were already sitting around the table as if a meeting was about to be held. Some of them were high-rank wardens and notorious inmates.
"Please have a seat. I would like to discuss our current situation and why I refuse to take cover under the military. As I said before, there is nowhere to escape." James turned his swivel chair and faced everyone. He clasped his hands on the table with a solemn expression.